This paper summarizes the successes and failures of the Plato Elementary Reading Curriculum Project, a computer-assisted instructional system funded by the National Science Foundation from 1971 to 1976. The paper discusses what the project did, the types of hardware that were used, how lessons were designed, the two approaches that were taken…

Describes Dr. John Henry Martin's theory of how children can learn to write phonetically before learning to read and how this theory developed into a computer-based teaching system called "Writing to Read." A program evaluation by Martin and IBM is discussed, and a source is given for further information. (MBR)

Describes and evaluates "Breakthrough to Literacy," a beginning reading scheme based on the language experience approach and launched in Saskatoon, Canada schools in 1974. (RB)

This guide is designed to help school communities make good choices about early literacy intervention. The guide distinguishes between "reading" (a process of learning to decode and comprehend texts) and a broader concept of "literacy" that includes understanding of the value of language and reading (emergent literacy), the…

The number of packages--kits, games, computer discs, audiotapes, and videotapes--offering phonics instruction is growing almost daily. These commercial packages are marketed to parents to use with their children or to teachers and school districts as supplements to classroom programs of reading instruction. This booklet outlines questions which…

Calling attention to the continuum of approaches reflected in beginning reading programs, this report presents content and cost analyses for over 50 beginning reading programs. The first of the report's five chapters is an introduction. The second chapter begins with a brief description of the major issues in the area of beginning reading and…

A study used aesthetic criteria and artistic criticism to find meaning in one part of the kindergarten and first grade curriculum, "Writing To Read," a computer-based program for beginning reading. Subjects, students in a kindergarten class, were observed several days a week from the day in April when they began the program until the day…

An evaluation was made of the language development component of Columbus, Ohio's All Day Kindergarten Program (ADKP). The ADKP was instituted in Columbus' public schools in January, 1972, to provide a full day of instruction for underachieving kindergarten pupils. The overall goal of the program was to prepare pupils for first grade by providing…

This study represents the second segment of the 3-year longitudinal study to test the effectiveness of the Listen Look Learn (LLL) Multi-Media Communication Skills System. Data were analyzed for the 1968-69 school year for 159 students who participated in LLL instruction during both their first and second year, 113 second-year students who used a…

For those school districts who wished an evaluation of the Listen Look Learn (LLL) system at grade 1 before expanding it into higher grades, a small study was conducted to determine what effect the transition to a basal reader would have on the child taught beginning reading in the LLL program. Two school districts submitted end-of-first-grade…

The Junior League/Vancouver School Board tutorial Program began in September 1973. A coordinator was hired to train and supervise community volunteers who would tutor children with reading difficulties using a synthetic phonic program with multisensory reinforcement. Forty children, seventy-seven tutors, and twenty-two schools have participated in…

This paper describes the results of a behavioral analysis of learning sequences used in initial instruction in the New Reading System, an early-reading curriculum. A rational analysis using behavioral categories yielded a set of strategies for teaching reading acquisition skills. Contingency management was assessed by an application of the…

A nationwide sample of kindergarten classes in over 2,000 schools provided information on their use of the SWRL/Ginn Kindergarten Program for the second consecutive year, 1975-76. Replicating an initial inquiry, the data showed that (1) high overall levels of outcome proficiency can be reliably attained in kindergarten reading instruction; (2)…

Approximately 100 first-grade pupils participated in a study of the effects of art-learning strategies on perceptual development and reading achievement. Pupils were assigned to one of four conditions: a sequential program of art-learning experiences, the Frostig program for the development of visual perception, a combination of these two…

The effects of a prescribed, sequential program of reading and mathematics readiness activities were investigated in an experimental study of 229 middle-class kindergarten children. Eight of 16 kindergarten classes received the experimental treatment for six months; the other eight served as a control group. Readiness tests were given before and…